


48 hours

by kaisaida



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Gang World, Blood, Character Death, Cutting, Gang!AU, Gore, Gun Violence, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Lost Love, Minor Character Death, Murder, Sadism, Smoking, Stabbing, Swearing, Torture, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:48:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26046805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaisaida/pseuds/kaisaida
Summary: Nobody messes with Kim Hongjoong. Especially not the bastard who killed his girlfriend.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12





	48 hours

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first ever fanfic that I've published (and the second one I've ever written), so I'd very much appreciate some feedback on my writing!
> 
> Also, please note that English is not my first language, so If there are any mistakes, poor word choices etc., please point it out to me so I can improve! :)
> 
> Happy reading!

Hongjoong stared out of the window into the gray city, sat on the leather chair of his office. The gloomy weather used to depress him, but not anymore. There were no more tears left to cry for him. His only feeling left was the undying thirst for vengeance.

The image of her lifeless body lying in the growing puddle of blood wouldn’t leave his mind. The body of the only person he’d ever loved. He chugged down the remains of his nth bottle of soju, trying to drown the painful memory with alcohol. Maybe the next one would help. Or the next one.

On the outside, one could have thought the loss of his girlfriend had turned Kim Hongjoong, the notorious gang leader, into a pathetic alcoholic. The truth, however, was the complete opposite. His heart had died with her, making him twice as ruthless as before.

A knock on the door snapped him out of his thoughts. Without turning, he allowed the comer to enter the room.

“He’s in room number three, boss,” a voice he identified as Mingi’s informed.

A sadistic grin spread on Hongjoong’s lips. “Great, I’ll meet him in a minute,” he dismissed Mingi, who bowed and left the room.

——

“So,” Hongjoong bored his gaze to the bald man tied to a chair in the middle of the room as he closed the door behind his back, “we finally meet.”

The man remained quiet, staring back at him, so he went on. “I suppose you know why you’re here,” he eyed the stripped naked man before him with an amused smirk, “in that state.”

“Your boys seemed to enjoy undressing me a bit too much, Seonghwa.”

Hongjoong laughed aloud. He rarely appeared in public, most people knowing him by his name only. His right hand, Park Seonghwa, was the one to take care of these things and do the dirty work. Due to their trademark - chained masks and fedora hats - not much more than their eyes were visible to protect their identities. This time, however, Hongjoong wasn’t wearing either.

“You wish I was Seonghwa,” he chuckled, slurring his words and lit up a cigarette. “In any other case, it would be him here with you.” He ambled closer. “But this,” he bent down to his level and blew the smoke to his face, “is personal.”

The man attempted to spit on Hongjoong’s face, but Hongjoong was quick to notice and a loud slap echoed in the empty room. “Do you know who I am?” He straightened his back to look down at him. Grabbing the man’s jaw, he forced him to meet his eyes. “You should be honored to meet the leader of ATEEZ.”

No matter how hard the man tried to cover it, the shock in his eyes was obvious as he realized who he was dealing with. 

“As I said, you must know why you’re here. Would you explain yourself?” Hongjoong returned to the topic. 

The man thought for a while. “Oh, that bitch was yours?” He grinned spitefully. “Sorry ‘bout that, I didn’t know. I was just following orders, don’t blame me.” His tone was almost sarcastic.

Hongjoong narrowed his eyes, blowing out another mouthful of smoke. 

“You’re from the new gang, right? Didn’t bother learning the name, we’ve just called you pathetic. Whose orders do you follow?”

“They’re going to ki-”

“You don’t have to worry about them killing you for telling. I’m going to kill you anyway.”

It got silent for a minute. Hongjoong took the last drag of his cigarette and dumped it on the concrete floor before breaking the silence.

“I’m going to be nice. If you tell me what I need to know, I’m going to kill you quickly and painlessly. If not, I’ll make sure your death will be slow and painful.” After a few second silence, he went on. “You have 48 hours. The choice is yours.”

He dug a lighter out of his pocket.

“And by the way,” a painful groan followed the click as the flame lit up under the man’s earlobe, heating the metal piercing on it burning hot, “calling her a bitch wasn’t a smart move.”

He made his way to the door, but turned around before opening it.

“The faster you tell me, the better for you and your loved ones. I’ll come back tomorrow. If you make up your mind earlier, call for me. Your time starts now.”

With these words, he exited the room.

“Make sure he stays awake, no food or water. If anything occurs, let me know immediately,” he ordered Yeosang and Wooyoung waiting outside. “Have fun.”

The two men bowed with a ‘yes sir’ and put on their hats before entering the room.

“Yunho, find everything about this man up to the smallest details. Anything will be useful.”

  
  


**[10:54:35]**

The iron door opened with a creak as Hongjoong entered the room, permitting Yeosang and Wooyoung to leave. As the door closed between his back, he stepped closer to the man.

“Did you sleep well?” he teased. “I did.”

“How childish are your boys? Seriously, the other one fired stones at me with a slingshot? Did you hire kids for this wannabe gang of yours?” the man complained.

Hongjoong glanced at the tiny bruises covering the left side of the man’s torso and arm, the small rocks littering the floor as pieces of evidence and burst out laughing, for the first time in a long time. “Free shots for Wooyoung,” he chuckled while imagining the scene.

The man rolled his eyes at the lame pun. “Not funny.”

“Okay, enough small talk,” Hongjoong composed himself and crossed his arms on his chest. “Who do you work for?”

“None of your business,” the man spat.

Hongjoong cocked his eyebrow and took the knife hanging on his belt. “In fact,” he began to carve the letter A on the man’s chest, listening to his wails without batting an eye, “I’m afraid it is my business.” Done with his work, he lifted the man’s chin with the tip of the knife, forcing him to meet his eyes. “You’re mine now.”

“Our men will find me.”

“Maybe,” Hongjoong tilted his head and smirked, “but they won’t make it this far, at least alive.”

Hongjoong’s phone ringing interrupted the conversation. The code name on the screen identified the caller as Yunho.

“Tell me,” he picked up, keeping his gaze on the man before him.

_ “Boss, I found something you’d probably like to see yourself,” _ Yunho’s voice on the other end informed.

Hongjoong’s smirk grew even more vicious as he stared straight into the man’s eyes. “I’ll be there in a minute.”

He hung up and placed the knife under the man’s jaw again, slowly dragging it towards his chin. “You’d better start talking,” he singsonged, “the more I hear from my men instead of you, the more I’ll hurt you.” 

The knife slipped upwards as it reached the edge of his jaw, scratching a cut on his skin and causing the man to hiss.

“Oops, sorry, didn’t mean that,” Hongjoong joked, both knowing full well he did it on purpose. 

He searched Jongho’s contact on his phone and ordered him to guard the man.

The man scoffed. “Why would I need a guard, as if I’d go somewhere?”

“Someone has to keep you awake,” Hongjoong explained and put the knife back on his belt. “You have all the time in the world to sleep after I get what I want.” With that said, the door opened and Hongjoong switched positions with the younger male.

——

“Boss, I found more in the meantime,” Yunho said as Hongjoong stepped into the room and handed his leader the man’s printed out profile.

Hongjoong raised his eyebrow as he skimmed through the information on the paper. He stepped next to Yunho and leaned on the edge of the table, eyes fixed on the laptop screen as he encouraged the other to continue.

“He has a girlfriend who’s also a part of their gang.” Yunho clicked open another profile. “She, too, was involved in...” he paused to look for the right words, knowing Hongjoong hated mentioning his late lover or the tragedy.

Hongjoong nodded with a low hum, knowing what the younger was referring to.

Yunho went on. “I have CCTV footage of the girls together right before… it.” He opened another tab and pressed ‘play’. 

Hongjoong leaned in to see better. He watched the girl approach his girlfriend and the two moving towards the corner of the building, his girlfriend pointing forward and doing most of the talking. The other girl probably pretended to ask for directions, Hongjoong figured.

When the girl walked away, Yunho paused the video. “You don’t want to see the rest of it,” he said.

“Do we know where this girl is now?” Hongjoong straightened up.

“Not yet,” Yunho shook his head. “But, I sent her profile to all of our men. I’ll try to trace her and let you know immediately if we find out anything new.”

Hongjoong nodded. “Good job,” he complimented before walking out of the room.   
  


**[12:17:23]**

“So,” Hongjoong entered the room again, a wider version of the already familiar smirk plastered on his lips, “I’ve received some interesting information,  _ Sungho _ .” 

The man turned his eyes to Hongjoong at the mention of his name. That’s when Hongjoong noticed his bleeding nose and swelling cheek.

Jongho approached his leader and explained. “He insulted both us and her, so I took the freedom to give him what he deserved, boss.”

“Accepted,” Hongjoong replied with a nod before Jongho exited, shutting the door in his wake. 

“Will you talk, or will your girlfriend talk?”

Sungho’s eyes widened. “You leave her out of this!” he exclaimed.

“You should have told that to your boss before killing my princess,” Hongjoong snickered and went on. “We have yet to find her, so you still have time. Talk before we find her and she gets to live.”

Sungho tried to answer, but the moment he opened his mouth the yawn he’d been holding in escaped, causing a victorious smirk to spread on Hongjoong’s lips. 

“Tired?” he cocked an eyebrow. His expression hardened with every step as he got closer, until their faces were inches away from each other. “So am I, to be honest, so you’d better start talking  _ now _ and not make me wait any longer. I’m running out of patience.” 

Sungho scrunched his nose at the smell of alcohol on Hongjoong’s breath. “You’ve been drinking again,” he noted.

“If you were in my shoes, so would you. Don’t even try to dodge the topic, now.” Hongjoong landed a harsh slap on Sungho’s face. “So, again, who do you work for?”

Sungho remained silent, staring at Hongjoong and pushing him closer and closer to his limit.

“Don’t make me cut off that little dick of yours,” Hongjoong threatened, pulling out a knife.

“It’s not little, as you can see,” Sungho defended, squinting his eyes at Hongjoong.

“It will be soon if you don’t answer the question.”

Hongjoong pressed the sharp edge of the weapon against the sensitive body part, making sure to cause a cut on it. Sungho winced as Hongjoong repeated the question. “Last time, who do you work for?”

“MR. KWON! We call him Mr. Kwon! I don’t know his full name...” Sungho blurted out in panic.

“Are you sure?” Hongjoong pressed the knife harder, causing Sungho to cry out again, even louder.

“I’M SURE, please, I really don’t know, please believe me, please-”

“You’d better not be lying,” Hongjoong interrupted his begging and withdrew the knife.

At that moment, Hongjoong’s phone alerted of a message. An evil grin took over his face as he read the three words on the screen.

“Looks like we’ll have a witness to confirm your story.” He cocked an eyebrow at Jacob. “You have your last chance to think, after I come back you  _ will _ talk. If anything you say turns out to be a lie, losing your manhood will be the least of your concerns.”

With that said, Hongjoong exited the room once again. 

“San, Mingi, your turn to watch him,” he ordered the two members, repeating the directions he’d given Wooyoung and Yeosang the previous night.

Passing by them, Wooyoung overheard and took the slingshot out of his pocket, tossing it to San. “Take this, it’s highly efficient!” 

The two exchanged amused smirks before San and Mingi entered the room.

  
  


**[22:27:07]**

“Tell me,” Hongjoong approached Sungho once again, “why do you keep making things worse for yourself?”

Sungho remained silent and stared back at Hongjoong. 

“Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about,” Hongjoong snarled and grabbed his jaw. “You lied to me.”

Sungho tried to maintain the poker face, but Hongjoong saw the terror in his eyes. The terror of being caught.

“There’s no Mr. Kwon. Your boss Mr. Jang, right?”

Sungho swallowed. “Whoever told you that is lying.”

“You won’t say that when you meet our witness.” Hongjoong’s face hardened. “I don’t like liars. And you know what? Liars will be punished,” He muttered through gritted teeth, stressing the last word.

“You won’t kill me,” Sungho sneered, “you  _ need _ me, you need my knowledge. Killing me before I tell you would be stupid, and I don’t have any intentions to betray my people.”

Hongjoong glared at the smug face in front of him.

“Let me tell you something,” he began. “I have a list of your family members and their locations. We wouldn’t want to lose any more innocent lives now, would we? They don’t deserve to die, it would be a pity having to send one of my men to kill them.”

Hongjoong could feel Sungho’s heavy breaths on his face, his firm grip still holding his jaw. “And second, nobody talks down to Kim Hongjoong.  _ Nobody _ . I’ll make you regret every word you just said.”

Sungho had no time to reply before the door creaked open and Seonghwa’s face peeked through the gap.

A knowing grin spread on Hongjoong’s face as he saw his fellow member. “Ah, our guest has arrived!” 

Seonghwa stepped into the room, dragging a girl after him. A girl Sungho recognized immediately, all his smugness gone as a desperate ‘no’ echoed in the room.

“Welcome, we’ve been waiting for you,” Hongjoong greeted the girl and took her hand from Seonghwa, dismissing the taller male with a satisfied nod.

“Leave Soojin alone!” Sungho shouted as Hongjoong led the terrified girl closer.

“Blame yourself, you wouldn’t talk,” Hongjoong stated coldly and lit up a cigarette. “She’s here because of you.”

“She has nothing to do with this!” 

“You know very well she does.” Smoke flowed out from between his lips as he spoke, a smirk planted on his face yet again. “You should be proud of her, she hasn’t been useless like you.”

Sungho stared at his girlfriend. “What have you told them?” Panic laced his voice. 

“I’m sorry,” Soojin stuttered, “they- they promised me they’d let me go and make sure our members won’t hurt me.”

“Did they hurt you? If they did I fucking swear-”

“We do not hurt women,” Hongjoong interrupted, blowing out another cloud of smoke. “We’re not that low.” He looked at Sungho and added with a chuckle. “Besides, what did you think you were going to do? Yell at me?”

Amused, Hongjoong watched the furious man glare back at him, taking one last drag of the cigarette.

“Ok, enough small talk.” He dumped the cigarette and pulled Soojin closer, wrapping an arm loosely around her tensed up shoulders. “Shall we show him what a good girl you are?”

“Get your hands off of her! She’s mine!” 

Hongjoong grinned at Sungho. “I know.”

Soojin’s breath hitched a bit when Hongjoong tightened his hold.

“So tell me darling, who’s your boss?”

Soojin remained silent, trembling in Hongjoong’s arms. 

“Oh sweetheart, you did so well answering questions with Seonghwa earlier, why do you want to do things the hard way now?” Hongjoong cooed in her ear, a playful glint in his eyes as he side-eyed her enraged boyfriend watching the scene, unable to do anything. “I only need you to answer the same questions, to show an example to your boyfriend.” As Soojin still stayed silent, Hongjoong sighed. “I guess I don’t have an option.”

The tears Soojin had been holding broke free as she felt the cold muzzle of a gun press against her temple.

“I’m asking nicely, honey, so please cooperate. What’s the name of your boss?” Hongjoong repeated calmly, ignoring the shouts of the man before him.

“Mr. Jang! It’s Mr. Jang! I’m new in the gang, I don’t know his full name, he told us to address him as that!” Soojin’s voice cracked as the words poured out of her mouth.

“Why do you think your boyfriend claimed his name to be Mr. Kwon? Is there another person named that?”

“No, there isn’t! There’s no Mr. Kwon!”

“So he lied to me?”

Hongjoong gave Sungho a death stare after Soojin confirmed with a broken ‘yes’. 

He continued the inquiry. “Was Mr. Jang the mastermind behind the attack?”

“Yes,” Soojin nodded, “he planned it all.”

“And what was your part?”

“I only lured her out, I swear! I didn’t hurt her, I didn’t even touch her, I-”

“Thank you,” Hongjoong interrupted. A loud bang echoed in the room, accompanied by Sungho’s desperate screams as Soojin’s body dropped to Hongjoong’s feet.

“See, it’s that simple,” Hongjoong said nonchalantly as he put his gun back in the holster.

Sungho stared at his girlfriend’s body laying on the floor.

“You- you said you don’t hurt women, you monster!” he yelled.

“We don’t. That didn’t hurt her, she got the quick and painless way.”

“You told her you’d let her go!” 

Hongjoong chuckled. “We seem to have a different view on ‘letting go’.”

“You fucking LIAR!!” 

“As if you didn’t lie to me first,” Hongjoong laughed. “Why would I be honest to you?”

Hongjoong approached the other male, careful to not step on the puddle of blood that had formed around the girl’s body. 

“I made two promises that I will keep, though. First one, as your punishment for lying, I’ll half your time from 48 hours to 24. Which leaves you…” he glanced at the watch on his wrist, “...one hour and 13 minutes.” 

“As if killing Soojin wasn’t enough?” Sungho glared at him in disbelief.

Hongjoong shook his head. “That wasn’t the punishment. That was the consequence for not cooperating. And a revenge, of course.” Before Sungho could reply, he went on. “The second one, well, I did promise her I’d make sure your members won’t kill her.” He turned towards the door, leaving the speechless male gape at the outcome of his actions. “I’ll be back in an hour. In the meantime, you can watch what I see every time I close my eyes.”

  
  


**[23:47:36]**

Hongjoong watched as Wooyoung and Mingi dragged Soojin’s body away. 

“There’s one more thing I want to know,” he went straight to the point, placing the tip of his knife on Sungho’s throat. “What’s the name of your gang?”

“You don’t do shit with that information,” the man spat out. 

Hongjoong clenched his jaw, having none of his constant talking back. Without warning, he resorted to the way he got him to speak last time - taking it further this time. Sungho screeched in agony as the knife sliced off a tiny piece of his manhood.

Hongjoong leaned in to face him, his alcohol laced breath fanning his face. “What is the name of your gang?” He stressed each word to make himself clear, tone threatening. His knife rested on the man’s testicles.

“RED COBRAS! We’re called The Red Cobras!” 

Hongjoong burst into laughter. “What, did you use a random online generator or something to name your gang? What a joke, I hope you don’t call yourselves credible.” Snickering, he straightened his back and continued. “Now that I got what I wanted, it’s time for me to fulfill my promise.”

“Why do you suddenly believe me, even after calling our name a joke?” Sungho questioned. ”My believable answers turned out to be lies, and you believe  _ this _ without a doubt?”

“Do you really think I didn’t know such a thing?” Hongjoong chuckled. “I told you I knew about your family, we tracked down and caught your girlfriend within hours, heck I had your full profile! Of course I knew the name of your gang, even without your girlfriend confirming.”

Sungho’s jaw dropped. “You knew all along?”

“I did,” Hongjoong nodded with his signature smirk, circling around the chair, “your gang’s name, your boss’s real name, that he planned it all, Soojin’s role, we knew it all. And more importantly,” he leaned to whisper in Sungho’s ear, “we know the location of your base.”

Sungho bit his lip, not knowing how to respond.

Hongjoong noticed the despair in his eyes, feeding it more and more. “Right now, our men are on the way to destroy every single one of you. Tomorrow, The Red Cobras will not exist.”

“Why did you waste your time with me, why didn’t you just kill me right away?”

“That wouldn’t have been fun,” Hongjoong explained. “It was a game, a game you lost before it began. I wanted to take revenge, to show you that  _ no one _ messes with Kim Hongjoong.” He looked at his watch, a satisfied grin taking over his lips. “Time’s up.”

  
  


**[24:00:00]**

“I told you what you wanted to know, right? You said you’d kill me quickly!” 

Hongjoong chuckled again. “You misunderstood,” he rounded around the chair, standing tall right before the helpless man tied to it, “that was for if you cooperated. Remember? The more I hear from other sources instead, the worse for you. Did you provide me with anything new?” 

Sungho stared back at the gang leader without a word. What else could he do? He was right. 

Hongjoong let out yet another low, malicious chuckle, eyeing the ‘A’ he had carved on Sungho’s skin earlier. “That looks pretty good on you,” he commented, almost proud of himself. “You’d definitely rock a few more.”

With that said, he sliced another line across his abdomen - first a shallow one, then deepening it one slow cut at a time, Sungho’s painful cries being music to his ears. The sweet taste of revenge intoxicated him better than any liquor ever could. The moment he’d been waiting for was finally here.

“This is what you did to me. This is the pain I’ve felt for the past weeks,” Hongjoong rambled while deepening the wound. “Consider yourself lucky, though,” he leaned in to whisper in Sungho’s ear. “You’ll be free from it, eventually. You don’t need to live with it like I do. You don’t need to suffer from nightmares, the pain will end. For me, the pain might subside a bit, I might grow numb to it, but it will never be gone.”

With all his hatred for the man screaming beneath him, he pushed the knife through his flesh, stabbing once, twice, three times, twisting it inside, before he pulled it out and stepped back to inspect the bloody mess he had created.

Deciding he wasn’t done yet, he returned to slashing cuts all over his restrained limbs, making sure the man stayed conscious, drawing out cries of agony with every hit.

“Much better,” Hongjoong flashed a twisted grin, satisfied with his work.

Almost. “Let me just finish what I started earlier.” He lowered his eyes to the male’s crotch and struck one last hit to the base of his dick, nearly cutting the member off and earning the loudest, most painful scream he had ever heard in his life.

“Just shoot me,” Sungho pleaded, barely conscious, “please.” Tears fell down his cheeks, his breathing heavy.

Hongjoong pulled out his gun, loaded and pointed it between the suffering male’s eyes. “You want me to shoot you?”

“Do it,” Sungho panted. 

“I knew you’d beg for me to kill you,” Hongjoong snickered, enjoying the power he had over one of his enemies.

“Just pull the fucking trigger!” 

“Nah,” Hongjoong replied after a few seconds of silence and unloaded the gun, tucking it back to the holster, “you don’t deserve it.”

He took a few steps back to lean against the wall and watched the man bleed out. When the whimpers quieted down and finally stopped, Hongjoong left the room. He headed to his office and poured himself a glass of whiskey, a wide, triumphant grin on his lips.

“For victory.”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, I hope you liked it!


End file.
